At a Television Critics Association panel on Thursday, Girls producers Apatow, Dunham, and Jenni Konner went on the defensive when The Wrap's Tim Molloy asked
a question about Lena Dunham's nudity on the show:

"I don't get the purpose of all
the nudity on the show. By you particularly. I feel like I'm walking into a
trap where you say no one complains about the nudity on 'Game of Thrones,' but
I get why they're doing it. They're doing it to be salacious. To titillate
people. And your character is often naked at random times for no reason."

Beneath Molloy's idiotic comparison
to Game of Thrones, a comparison that
questions Dunham's abilities in the titillation arena, it's still a valid
question: in a show that's so often lauded for its honesty and exploration of
21st century gender norms, why is the constant nudity solely focused
on Hannah?

The producers—the so-called
comic geniuses behind the show—found nothing funny about this question.
Dunham, clearly a graduate of the Miranda Hobbes school of attraction, first responded:

"Yeah. It's because it's a
realistic expression of what it's like to be alive, I think, and I totally get
it. If you are not into me, that's your problem and you're going to have to work that out
with professionals," she said.

But before Molloy could respond to Dunham, a pissed off Apatow asked him, "Do you have a girlfriend?" Malloy
answered, "Sure," and then the following conversation ensued:

"Does she like you?"

"Yeah."

"Let's see how she likes you when you quote
that with your question and just write the whole question… and tell me how it
goes tonight."

According to Entertainment
Weekly, later in the panel, Girls
executive producer Jenni Konner interrupted her response to another
question when she caught sight of Molloy in the audience:

"I
literally was spacing out because I'm in such a rage spiral about that guy,"
she said pointing to the question-asker. "I was just looking at him looking at
him and going into this rage [over] this idea that you would talk to a woman
like that and accuse a woman of showing her body too much. The idea it just
makes me sort of sick."

Apatow stuck around after the
panel to further
admonish Molloy for asking his "sexist and offensive" as well as
"misogynistic" question.

While it's great that Apatow is pushing back against those critics who question the artistic aims of nudity on the show, attacking a reporter for a stupidly worded inquiry does not effectively combat the genuinely sexist discourse in and surrounding the television industry. And speaking of sexist discourse and nudity, I can't be the only one who wants some full frontal Charlie this season, right? As a goodbye?

The good news is that the very
serious comedy was renewed for a fourth season during the panel. Season three
will debut Sunday night on HBO.